Fear, Reputations And Intolerance In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in

Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.

In Massachusetts during the late 1600’s, a series of prosecutions accusing people of witchcraft was a prominent event known as the Witch Trials (Salem witch trials, Wikepedia.com). As a result, many literature pieces, books, and poems were written based on the Witch Trials in Salem particularly, like Arthur Miller’s novel, The Crucible. The Crucible is well known for its incorporation of the Puritan community, making it an extensive novel, as noted by Susan Abbotson, an author who critiqued Miller’s work. Ms. Abbotson notes that much of the story is spent outside the courtroom and in the society as a whole. Consequently, her remark founded the discussion about the idea of power- hungry characters and corruption in The Crucible. In The Crucible

The girls at the beginning of the play, avoided punishment by accusing others of the very things they were guilty of themselves. This desperate act of self-preservation resulted in the mass paranoia and atmosphere that gripped Salem for the continuance of the witch trials. By allowing audiences to see how dark desires and hidden agendas subsequentially drive people, Miller explores human motivation and the behaviour that results from it. Ironically, it is desire, sexual, material and physical desire that drives the people of Salem. For example, Abigail, full of desire for Proctor, seizes an opportunity to reverse fate and eliminate Elizabeth Proctor, by accusing her of witch craft. Elizabeth was the only person in Abigail’s eyes that was preventing her from marrying Proctor. In addition, Abigail’s status within the community is elevated and she gains power a young woman of her social status could have only dreamt of. Furthermore, the Putnam’s also seize the opportunity the witch trials create. Putnam has a hidden agenda, namely, land lust and his desire to elevate himself within the

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

All throughout the play,The Crucible , Arthur Miller uses various themes to get his message across. A motif that made an enormous impact in the Puritan community would be demonization. Demonization could be described as marking an entity as evil, due to having the polar opposite beliefs as one's own. In Miller’s play demonization caused instability in the community by creating chaos, fear, and false accusations. It allowed people to create scapegoats, and it revealed repressed social conflicts in both the Salem witch trials and in the era of Mccarthyism. Demonization plays an important role on how characters in the play live, and associate with one another. Miller in the play describes the lives of the people living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the witch trials, that occurred during the late 1600s. Much of these characters are a representation of what was happening during Miller’s lifetime.

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Arthur intrigues audience time and time again with the historical context, social implications, and the Salem, Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials of 1962. Most members in Salem feel the need to prove their authority in ways such as accusing those who have done nothing or hanging them without proving their innocence first. The thing is authority is not made up by an authority figure, but by society. Miller’s The Crucible, demonstrates how people misuse their authority for cruel purposes through a fascinating plot, well-crafted characters, and well-set theme. During the hysteria of witchcraft trials in Salem, there were multiple figures of authority or per say the community who abused their power, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth.

By 1693, over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts. Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play, The Crucible, documents this dark period of American history and exposes the hysteria that poisons Salem. Although the entire town participates in creating this gratuitous hysteria, several characters significantly further it. Abigail Williams encourages mass hysteria by accusing innocent people, much of which is caused by her unwillingness to tolerate those who disobey her. Similarly, Reverend Parris is intolerant of those who are accused of not conforming with the church, allowing no opportunity for the accused to successfully deny engaging in witchcraft. Likewise, Judge Danforth’s intolerance of having a tarnished reputation

Although the Salem Witch Trials took place over three hundred years ago, many aspects of the attitudes and tendencies revealed in this event remain unchanged. In his 1950s play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller examines the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, a series of multiple court hearings to prosecute over 150 accused witches in the Puritan colony of Massachusetts. The Crucible reflects both psychological and political tendencies in American life, past and present.

The definition of the word martyr as defined by Merriam-Webster is “a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion.” When many people think of a martyr their first instinct in their mind is not to think of witchcraft and the town of Salem. The play written by Arthur Miller titled “The Crucible” is based on real events that correlate with this definition. “The Crucible” depicts the 1692 Salem Witch Trials that transformed the town of Salem into hysteria. The start of the trials began way before Abigail Williams accused one of the townspeople of witchcraft, but when many girls were caught dancing and singing in the woods. The trials continued for less than a year but over 200 people were accused. With the breakout of hysteria and intolerance the town everyone seemed to turn on eachother. Giles Corey embodied the theme of the play “The Crucible” by being intolerant and going against the others, eventually costing him his life.

One of the many works written and driven by Puritan influence, The Crucible by Arthur Miller has continued to influence life and thinkings. Its story tracing the 1692 Salem Witch Trials has been widely read, received and understood, along with influencing the reader and their ideals. The play has manifested into more than words on a page and has become of the greatest influences, even sixty years after its publication. Though its story has not changed and is merely a retelling of the original itself, its themes have greatly impacted its universal and enduring state.

The movie The Crucible has played a large part in our modern understanding of the Salem Witch Trials of 1962. The playwright became so popular that was added to many junior and high schools required reading lists. Although the writing style of Arthur Miller is both complex and compelling, the playwright is not historically accurate and was intended to be an allegory for the “witch hunts” that McCarthyism and the red scare brought about. The Crucible focuses mainly on the fictional romance between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, this relationship, and Abigail’s jealousy that stems from it, results in the false witchcraft accusations of many innocent townsfolk and the hanging of 19 people. This essay will attempt to separate fact from fiction

For centuries, fear and suspicion have played monumental roles in the development of various writing styles that are still prominent today. In The Crucible, author Arthur Miller utilizes fear and suspicion to dictate the decision making and actions of the characters included in the text. It is evident that throughout the entirety of the play, fear and suspicion play a vital role in dictating some of the most defining moments and heavily impact the outcomes of various events. Thus, playwright Arthur Miller demonstrates that fear and suspicion are infectious and can produce a mass hysteria that destroys public order and rationale when Abigail attempts to blame the witchcraft on Tituba, when Giles tries to accuse Thomas Putnam of murder, and when Abigail and the girls try to frame Mary Warren at the trials.

The Salem witch trials was a series of prosecutions of innocent people during 1692. Arthur Miller shows us what the Salem witch trials was through his play. In this play, “The Crucible”, Arthur Miller emphasizes how reputation causes people to turn on each other through the people's judgement, fear, and characterization.